Best Friends Forever
by Alixtii
Summary: There is a wisdom hidden in the innocence of the young. WillowXander.


A remix of "Brick by Brick" by Sarafu.**  
**

**Best Friends Forever (Devon Days Remix)**

**I.**

They had all felt it: a dark force, fueled by grief, more powerful than anything they had ever sensed before. They had sent the only person who could stop it, entrusting him with their power. And then the Devonshire coven simply had waited, and prayed, and allowed fate to take its course. The gods' will would be done, as always.

Alicia lacked the wisdom and patience of her elders. She envied them their serenity, able to accept that which they could not change, but she could not sit still while the fate of the world hung in such serious jeopardy. She made her way out of the coven house and watched the children playing in the twilight. As in the serenity of the elders, there was a wisdom hidden within their innocence. Life for them was the moment, the now, a simple game of fox and geese. "Got you!" Bethany called as she grabbed Sophia.

And then that furious anger which threatened to destroy everything Alicia held dear was gone, and there was . . . silence, of a sort. Stillness. Alicia made her way back into the coven house. "Is it true, Grandmother?" she asked once she had entered. "Is it over?"

The elderly woman raised her eyes and let her gaze fall on Alicia. "The world is safe for now, my child," she said. "But no. It is not over; it is just beginning."

**II.**

When Alicia first saw the children, her first thought was how young they looked.

"Welcome to our coven," Alicia said to the young witch, Willow Rosenberg. This was the woman who had come within a hair's breadth of destroying the world, standing next to her just as young companion.

"I'm Willow," the girl said, "and this is Xander. Giles said you could help."

"We can help only if you are willing to help yourself first. The rules here are fairly simple, the basic tenets of Wicca that Mr. Giles assures me you already know even if you do not follow them," Alicia said, sitting on the edge of an armchair and gesturing for the pair to sit on a nearby settee.

The girl blanched at Alicia's reproving stare, but to her credit she kept her gaze steady. "I want . . . I want to change. That's why I'm here."

Alicia nodded. The girl would need to face many cold and uncomfortable truths this summer if she was to learn what she needed to know. "I can see that you believe it to be so, but actions often speak louder than words. You will have to prove yourself, Willow, prove that you want to harness your power for good as much as we want you to. But you must be aware that the first sign of using magic for a selfish purpose or to do harm will result in the expulsion of you from this sanctuary." Although what they would do in that circumstance, Alicia truly did not know. Willow Rosenberg possessed too much sheer power to let her go untrained. She had already proven to be a danger.

Willow nodded and her voice was steady as she spoke. "I understand." Perhaps she would be able to learn what she needed to after all.

"Excellent," Alicia said, allowing warmth to creep into her voice. "We have a room prepared for you already. Your friend will have to find another place to stay, however. This is sacred ground, and only those versed in its customs are allowed to tread it."

"I know," the boy spoke up, quickly and politely. "Giles set me up with a place to stay nearby."

It was then that Grandmother spoke for the first time. She had been there the entire time, silently watching the exchange, still as a statue. "Let us not be so hasty, Alicia," she said.

"Grandmother?"

"Look at them, my child. He is the one."

"The one?" Alicia looked at the boy for the first time. The girl's power was obvious to anyone with trained eyes, and Alicia had looked to her first and more or less completely ignored her companion, but as she peered more deeply, her grandmother's words became clear. "You're the one who saved the world."

The boy didn't quite meet her gaze. "I just wanted to be with Willow when the world ended."

"You're modest," Grandmother said. "But most of all, you are unselfish, a lesson that Miss Rosenberg needs to learn while she is here. You've come to share your friend's burden, an admirable trait, and one that we cannot ignore."

"Grandmother?" Alicia asked, not understanding.

"We owe him a great debt for returning one who was lost, and we will not deny him the thing he will not ask for."

"But. . . ." What her grandmother wanted to do was completely without precedent.

"Hush," Grandmother said, and Alicia knew better than to argue further. "The boy may not have the same gifts we do, but he will respect our ways. He may prove to be able to help her in ways that we cannot. The room next to hers is empty, is it not?" She turned and left the room, in her way which was so quick and graceful one might have thought she had never been there to begin with.

The boy and girl shot dumbfounded looks at each other, but Alicia rose and spoke. "Come with me and I will show you your rooms."

"What about sacred traditions?" asked Willow.

"If Grandmother says that the rules can be bent, then the rules will be bent," Alicia answered.

Willow nodded and the three walked to the pair the rest of the way of rooms in silence. What was it that her grandmother saw, Alicia wondered, and what other surprises would the summer hold in store?

**III.**

The next morning Willow and Xander came down to breakfast, and Alicia began to see immediately the wisdom of her grandmother's decision. Xander's presence helped to put Willow at ease in her new and strange surroundings, and as they joked over their breakfast Alicia couldn't help but smile herself.

They stayed together through meditation, and then had to separate as Celeste took away Willow for training. "There isn't much really to keep you interested while she is away," Alicia told Xander. "We live simple lives here."

"Well, simple is good," Xander had said. "Our lives have gotten too complicated anyway. Is there something I can do to help? I'm pretty handy with a hammer."

Alicia smiled. "I'm sure we can find something for you to do," she said, and of course she was right.  
**  
IV.**

"Do you think she is getting better?" Xander asked her one day, about a month past midsummer. It wasn't quite the right question to ask, but she knew what he meant.

She had nodded, looking out to the horizon. "Willow's a quick learner," she answered. "There were simply a few things which she had to be made to see."

"Do you . . . do you think she'll be able to go back?"

Alicia turned and looked the boy in the eyes. "She will have to, Xander. She is going to be needed in Sunnydale." No one was completely certain what was going to happen, but Celeste had foreseen some things pretty clearly, and there was no doubt that whatever was going down in Sunnydale the next year, the forces of good would need every weapon at that disposal.

Is that what this girl is? Alicia asked herself. A weapon?

"Will she be ready?" Xander asked. "She hasn't even been off the coven's lands in over a month."

"She will have to be ready," Alicia said. She could see the despair in the boy's eyes, and the desire to help as well. "Perhaps it would be best if you began to take her elsewhere for brief periods of time, help her to readjust to the outside world."

Xander nodded, taking the burden on himself without a word. "Should I tell her about . . . about Sunnydale?"

"No," said Alicia, deciding for herself the same moment the words left her lips. "Grandmother and I will when the time is right." No reason to burden the girl with news of the apocalypse when she was doing so well.

Xander nodded somberly and turned away.

"Xander?" Alicia said, and the boy turned back. "You're good for her, you know. I'm glad you're here for her."

**V.**

She phoned Rupert shortly after that, to provide him the benefit of Celeste's foresight and to inform him of Willow's progress. "I'm glad to know that she is improving, of course," he had said. "We'll be able to use her skills, research and otherwise. But are you sure she is ready?"

"If Celeste is right—and we both know what the chances of her being wrong are—then it simply doesn't matter one way or the other, Rupert. You are going to need her."

"Yes, of course. I trust Celeste's vision completely, and I'm sure you're doing everything that can be done. I simply worry, as you must understand."

"I do," Alicia assured him. "You care for the girl. But don't watch out; that young man you sent over with her will make sure that nothing harms her."

"Yes," said Rupert. "I know. They love each other."

**VI.**

Lunasdal came and went, and they finally told Willow about the coming apocalypse in mid-August, and that night she left the sanctuary of the reserve for the first time since she had arrived at the beginning of the summer.

They did not return until late at night. When they did, they were uncharacteristically quiet, and they both retired to Willow's room together.

Xander's bed was not slept in for the remainder of the summer.

**VII.**

September came, and Willow and Xander both returned to Sunnydale to face whatever apocalypse the Hellmouth had in store for them. Now there was nothing for Alicia to do but wait, and pray, and allow fate to take its course. The gods' will would be done, as always.

She watched the children playing fox and geese, giggling as they ran across the field pursued by Sophia, who apparently was the fox at that moment. Sophia caught up with Bethany and grabbed the older girl by the arm, disrupting Bethany's balance and causing her to go spilling to the ground. Bethany clutched her knee, crying, and Alicia could see that it was skinned.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Beth'ny," Sophia said as she took Bethany into a tight embrace, the game forgotten. The other children watched from a distance. "Can you forgive me?"

"Of course I forgive you," Sophia said. "You're my best friend, forever!"

Alicia nodded. Yes, she reminded herself, there is a wisdom hidden in the innocence of the young.

**The End**


End file.
